Discord Text Formatting Guide: Bold, Color, Italic, Strikethrough, Code Block

Formatting text in Discord is very easy. Here is the best and easiest guide on how to format text in Discord, including using code blocks.

You’ve started using Discord, joined your favorite servers, and engaged in conversation with the community – but why stop there? You can drive your points even further across by using Markdown text formatting for your messages.

Markdown is a markup language used to format and add stylistic elements to plain text. The basic principle is enclosing your desired text in Markdown syntax so that it appears differently once it is sent.

Formatted texts add flair and emphasis in Discord chats to keep the conversation engaging, so read on to learn how to utilize this feature.

Table of ContentsShow

Style Formatting

Italics

Enclose your text in asterisks (*text*) or underlines (_text_) to italicize it.

Discord Italics Formatting

Bold

To make your message appear in bold, enclose it in double-asterisks (**text**).

Discord Bold Formatting

Underline

To underline your messages, enclose them with two underscores (__text__) on each side.

Discord Underline Formatting

Strikethrough

Put a strikethrough over your message by adding two tildes (~~text~~) on each side.

Discord Strikethrough Formatting

Style Formatting Combinations

You can also combine syntaxes for a more diverse type of formatting.

Bold Italics

Discord Bold Italics Formatting

Underline Italics

Discord Underline Italics Formatting

Underline Bold

Discord Underline Bold Formatting

Underline Bold Italics

Discord Underline Bold Italics Formatting

Underline Bold Italics

Discord also allows the use of single and multiple lines of code blocks. Code blocks are effective for sending quotes to the rest of the chat group.

Single-line Code Blocks

Wrap your message in backticks (`text`) to create a single-line code block for it.

Discord Single Line Code Block Formatting

Multiline Code Blocks

If you’re sharing a quote from an article, consider using multiple lines of code blocks for better readability.

Discord Multi Line Code Block Formatting

Coloring Your Text

You may have seen other users send colored messages in your Discord chat group. Discord does not have a text highlighting/coloring feature yet, but there is a way around this. By specifying the programming language associated with the color in a multiline code block, you can change the color of the text enclosed in it.

Note that colored texts do not appear in Discord’s mobile app.

Use the table below as a reference for the different programming languages and their associated colors. The third column contains examples of how to write these.

ColorLanguageExample
GreenCSSDiscord Green Color Text CSS
Bluemd (Markdown)Discord Blue Color Text md
YellowmdDiscord Yellow Color Text md
RedmlDiscord Red Color Text ml
OrangeCSSDiscord Orange Color Text CSS
CyanbashDiscord Cyan Color Text bash
Highlighted TextTexDiscord Highlighted Text Tex

Bonus: How To Hide Spoilers

Discord servers include a lot of gamers who have yet to play or finish certain games. If you’re going to talk about some parts of a game’s story, remember to hide spoiler content by enclosing them in double vertical bars (|| Spoiler ||).

Discord How To Hide Spoilers

Other users won’t be able to immediately read the spoiler part but may opt to reveal it by clicking on the black bar covering it.

Conclusion

Discord is an innovative platform for gamers to discuss video games with other fellow players that have the same interest.

Most of the communication is done using plain text chat, however, so it can be a real challenge to sustain interest in the discussion or drive your points across. Fortunately, you can address this by utilizing Markdown text formatting to add some flair in your messages.

For additional information about Markdown text in Discord, visit the Discord Support Page.

With knowledge of these chat functionalities, you now have more options in expressing yourself in your favorite Discord servers.

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Samuel Stewart

Samuel is GamingScan's editor-in-chief. He describes himself as a dedicated gamer and programmer. He enjoys helping others discover the joys of gaming. Samuel closely follows the latest trends in the gaming industry in order to keep the visitors in the flow.

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